Melbourne wins 2005 bid

Melbourne, Australia was the victor in a 59-33 vote by the CISS Congress for the 2005 Summer Deaf World Games. The excitement of the vote was unprecedented, as Kosice, Slovakia put up extremely tough competition. Slovakia had the floor for approximately 30 minutes as its delegates put forth their case:

Slovakia is a growing, newly formed country, and having the Deaf World Games would lend it prestige.

The facilities to be used would be state-of-art, nearly all on a specialized area that would be built by the year of 2005.

If given the games, the local deaf organization would receive ten percent of all the income that was generated from the new stadium.

The presentation was punctuated by videos of the city of Kosice and computer-generated imagery of the supposed sports facilities. To cap off the presentation, the Slovakian bid committee presented the talents of an acrobatic young deaf woman who performs regularly on Slovakian Television.

After this presentation, David Peters of Melbourne, Australia presented his town's bid for the Deaf World Games. He pointed out with a computer presentation the following:

Melbourne, Australia is a modern, sports-oriented city with a diverse cultural life.

Most of the sports facilities would be within 3 kilometers of the city center. 8 of the main sports would be played in one sports center.

While airfare is relatively expensive for some parts of the world, the cheapness of lodging (as low as US$25) would offset the airfare costs.

Only three World Games of the Deaf have been held outside of Europe.

Health insurance, full interpreting services, and transportation would be provided.

After a short question-and answer period, the delegates voted for approximately 45 minutes and once CISS Honorary Life Member Jerald Jordan announced the winner, the Australian contingent accepted the hosting duties tearfully and gave an extended thank-you speech.